


Grow

by samsarapine



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Blanket Permission, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-14
Updated: 2010-03-14
Packaged: 2017-10-07 23:58:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/70589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samsarapine/pseuds/samsarapine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Goku's growing.  Hakkai is, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grow

**Author's Note:**

> Challenge 52: Words: Grow. Feather. Knife. Angular. Cat. Time taken: 55 minutes for writing, 5 minutes editing. Concrit very welcome.

  
  
  
**Entry tags:** |   
[author:samsarapine](http://community.livejournal.com/saiyuki_time/tag/author:samsarapine), [challenge: words](http://community.livejournal.com/saiyuki_time/tag/challenge:%20words), [rating:pg-13](http://community.livejournal.com/saiyuki_time/tag/rating:pg-13)  
  
---|---  
  
_ **"Grow", Hakkai, gen, PG** _

Title: Grow  
Author: [](http://samsarapine.livejournal.com/profile)[**samsarapine**](http://samsarapine.livejournal.com/)  
Warnings: Imagery that some might find disturbing  
Pairing(s): Hints of Sanzo/Goku  
Notes: Challenge 52: Words: Grow. Feather. Knife. Angular. Cat. Time taken: 55 minutes for writing, 5 minutes editing. Concrit very welcome.

"Goku's growing, isn't he?"

Sanzo grunted.

Hakkai watched him without looking like he was doing so, his knife slicing radishes in even strokes, the rhythm of cooking so innate a part of his daily routine that his hands flowed through the motions with precision and a certain amount of grace in which he took great pride. It was important to him, to reclaim the actions of knife and qi, to use them to nurture and heal.

Sanzo's hair feathered in the breeze, long enough to almost brush the angular jut of his nose. He needed a haircut; they all needed haircuts, for that matter. Hakkai glanced up at the sky. Yes, there should be enough time after they'd eaten. Gojyo would squawk like always, but he could at least finish Sanzo's and Goku's trims before the light faded.

_Goku did a good job washing the carrots,_ Hakkai thought, reaching for one and beginning to slice it with hardly a pause in the motion of his sharp blade. _I never even had to ask._ His eyes wandered to where Goku and Gojyo were quarrelling over the last apple.

"Pig kappa, dog kappa, cat kappa!"

Gojyo held the apple high. In another month or two, Hakkai figured that it wouldn't be high enough. "Stupid monkey, dumbass monkey, shrimpy monkey! And what the hell with all the animals, animal?"

"I'm not an animal, you stupid kappa!"

"Shut up. Give him the goddam apple."

Gojyo's crimson eyes lit on Sanzo; Hakkai could see the sneer in them begin, then abruptly halt. He shoved the apple into Goku's hands. "Right. Shit. Here you go, squirt. Don't choke on it."

Goku beamed and took a huge bite, the juice running down his chin.

Sanzo's tongue flickered between his lips and disappeared.

"The priest's got it bad," Gojyo murmured into Hakkai's ear as he sauntered over and swiped a bit of carrot.

Hakkai hummed in agreement. "Don't make it worse," he warned quietly.

Gojyo looked over their companions and handed Hakkai another carrot. Hakkai's knife never paused. Slice, slice, slice… "Yeah, alright," Gojyo finally said. "But I reserve the right to laugh if they make fools of themselves."

"Perhaps in ten years' time," Hakkai said. "Not now. Neither of them has much."

"You're no fun," Gojyo grumbled, but Hakkai knew that if Sanzo and Goku managed to find each other, their secret would be safe. "When it's time, I expect you to back me up."

"Hai, hai." Hakkai added the vegetables to the pot simmering over the fire. "There's time before the soup is finished for me to trim your hair," he added.

Gojyo groaned. "It can wait another week," he said, pulling a long strand forward and looking at it cross-eyed.

"The chain of your shakujou nearly tangled in it this morning," Hakkai replied. "Besides, I count on you to set a good example for the others."

A few moments later, his hands submerged in hues of blood and guilt, Hakkai snipped the broken ends of Gojyo's hair into neat lines and watched the severed strands eddy around his feet and float away on the light evening breeze along with Gojyo's protests.

_It always grows back._

The sharp blades of his scissors flashed bright and clean. He looked at Sanzo, watching Goku with unblinking eyes behind the smouldering red embers of his cigarette; at Goku, beaming and chattering to Sanzo between bites of red, crisp apple; at the waves of red silk under his fingers, warm as Gojyo's heart.

And Hakkai knew, he'd learned, he was beginning to accept, that yes. Red would always grow back. Blades would always be sharp. Qi would always pool and burst.

But sometimes, that was okay.

He brushed the loose hair from Gojyo's shoulders and put down the shears. "Dinner's ready," he said, and stood back as the others ladled soup into their bowls and ate of his penitence.


End file.
